If Viewers Started Paying For Their TV Licence SABC Would Make About R1 Billion In Profit. The public broadcaster, SABC, has been in a bit of a tight spot financially this year.
The public broadcaster, SABC, has been in a bit of a tight spot financially this year. SABC could have had a profit of R1.5 billion in the financial year of 2018/2019. This was only if South Africans had issued money for their license fees at the same amount as the ones who watch BBC.
The company announced its yearly report at the Parliament on Tuesday. The report showed that there was a loss of R482 million. The SABC was given R2.1 billion so that they can keep on functioning. The public broadcaster gets most of its money from advertising but if they got to issue license fees that are close to that of the British public broadcaster then the company might get out of the financial debacle it’s in.
The losses that the public broadcaster has been experiencing have resulted in the company failing to broadcast the games at the Rugby World Cup in Japan. In Britain about 93% of television license holders pay their licenses and 7 % evade paying, according to the United Kingdom numbers. However, in South Africa 31% of people pay for their television license and 69% evade paying their television license. Within the past year, the public broadcaster received R968 million from television licenses.
However, a collection cost of R116 million means that only over R852 million got into the company’s funds. If the SABC’s evasion rate was the same as that of the British broadcaster, it would mean that there would be 8.7 million licenses that are paid annually. With a yearly cost of R265 per licence, the total amount would approximately be R2.3 billion. The number would be reduced a bit due to some pensioners being grant recipients. If the annual rate was kept at 12%, the public broadcaster would get approximately R2 billion in license fees, moving its R482 million loss into a profit of R1.5 billion.
by Alexandra Ramaite
